Sandy Nears New Jersey Landfall

Sandy is expected to make landfall by around 8 p.m. EDT as it approaches the New Jersey-Delaware border, still packing hurricane-force winds, the National Weather Service said late Monday.

The storm was located about 20 miles south of Atlantic City, N.J., and moving toward the west-northwest at 28 miles an hour. Winds had dipped to 85 miles an hour.

The weather service reclassified Hurricane Sandy as a post-tropical cyclone, which had been expected as the storm moved north and approached the mid-Atlantic states. Tropical cyclones derive energy from warm ocean waters, while post-tropical cyclones are fueled by temperature contrasts in the atmosphere.

It reported storm surge heights of 12.4 feet at Kings Point, N.Y., 7.2 feet at the Battery in Manhattan and 7.5 feet at Sandy Hook, N.J. It warned water levels will be even higher at high tide.

Wind gusts of 82 miles an hour and 67 miles an hour also were reported at Islip on Long Island and JFK Airport.